Eva Green

Eva Green (French: ; Swedish: ; born 6 July 1980) is a French actress and model. The daughter of actress Marlène Jobert, she started her career in theatre before making her film debut in Bernardo Bertolucci's The Dreamers (2003). She achieved international recognition for her portrayal of Sibylla, Queen of Jerusalem in Ridley Scott's historical epic Kingdom of Heaven (2005). The following year, she played Bond girl Vesper Lynd in the James Bond film Casino Royale (2006) and was awarded the BAFTA Rising Star Award.

Green was raised in France and attended the American University of Paris, an English-speaking institution.[18] She also spent time between London and Ireland growing up.[24] She was quiet in school,[17] and developed an interest in Egyptology when she visited the Louvre at age seven.[25] At age 14, after seeing Isabelle Adjani in The Story of Adele H., Green decided to become an actress. Her mother initially feared that an acting career would be too much for her sensitive daughter, but later came to support her ambitions.[24] Green continued her studies at St. Paul Drama School in Paris,[26] and took an acting course at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London.[15] Around this time, Green returned to Paris, where she performed in several plays.[24] Green stated that, while in drama school, she "always picked the really evil roles" because "it's a great way to deal with your everyday emotions".[27]

Career

Green appeared on stage in Jalousie en Trois Fax (2001) for which she was nominated for a Molière Award.[28] She also appeared in Turcaret (2002).

In 2002, Green had her film debut, when director Bernardo Bertolucci cast her for the role of Isabelle in The Dreamers (2003), which involved her in extensive full frontal nude scenes and graphic sex scenes. Green told The Guardian that her agent and her parents begged her not to take the role, concerned that the film would cause her career to "have the same destiny as Maria Schneider",[29] because of Schneider's traumatic experience during the filming of Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris.[24] Green said that with Bertolucci's guidance she felt comfortable during the filming of the nude and sex scenes[30] but was embarrassed when her family saw the film.[24] Her performance was well-received, and some compared her to Liv Tyler.[31] Green expressed surprise when a minute was cut from the film for the American market, stating, "[T]here is so much violence, both on the streets and on the screen. They think nothing of it. Yet I think they are frightened by sex."[24] Her next film was Arsène Lupin (2004), in which she portrayed Lupin's love interest. She enjoyed the light-hearted role, although she has stated that she generally prefers more complex characters.[28]

Her performance in The Dreamers led Ridley Scott to cast Green in Kingdom of Heaven (2005), a film about the Crusades where she played Sibylla of Jerusalem. Green performed six screen tests and was hired only a week before principal photography began.[15] Green found the atmosphere of coming onto a film so late tense and exciting, and she liked the film's ambiguity in approaching its subject matter.[27] To her disappointment, much of her screen time was cut.[15]Stephanie Zacharek of Salon.com praised her performance: "She doesn't quite know what to do with her character's stilted dialogue, but she carries herself so regally that you barely notice."[32] Nev Pierce of the BBC, however, called her character "limp".[33] Green was satisfied when her character's complex subplot was restored in the director's cut.[34]Total Film said the new scenes completed her performance: "In the theatrical cut, Princess Sibylla sleeps with Balian and then, more or less, loses her mind. Now we understand why. Not only does Sibylla have a young son, but when she realizes he's afflicted with leprosy just like her brother Baldwin, she decides to take his life shortly after he's been crowned king."[35]

Green portrayed the witch Serafina Pekkala in the 2007 film adaptation of The Golden Compass. Green hoped the religious themes of the book would be preserved,[34] but references to Catholicism were removed from the film.[40] Green next appeared in Franklyn, as the tormented artist Emilia,[41] (who Green compared to real-life figures Sophie Calle and Tracey Emin)[42] and the mysterious Sally, who she described as, "full of life, very witty, big sense of humor".[43] She also filmed Cracks, the directorial debut of Jordan Scott, Ridley Scott's daughter, where she plays a teacher at a girls' school named Miss G, who falls in love with one of her pupils. In March 2009, she appeared in Womb, where she plays a woman who clones her dead boyfriend. It is a collaboration between actor Matt Smith and director Benedek Fliegauf.[44]

She was considered for the role eventually played by Cécile de France in Un Secret (2007).[45] Additionally, she was initially approached for the female lead in Lars von Trier's controversial film Antichrist (2009). According to Trier, Green was positive about appearing in the film, but her agents refused to allow her. The unsuccessful casting attempt took two months of the film's pre-production process. Anglo-French actress Charlotte Gainsbourg was subsequently cast in the role.[46] Green later said that she got along well with Trier, "but then we started talking about nudity and sex and so on. It got a bit too far ... It was my dream to work with him, but it’s a shame it was on that film that it nearly happened. I’m sure I would have been trashed doing that film".[47]

In 2014, she played Artemisia in the 300 sequel, 300: Rise of an Empire for which she received excellent reviews.[51] Rafer Guzman in his Newsday review stated, "The one bright spot is Eva Green as Xerxes' machinator, Artemesia, a raccoon-eyed warrior princess... Green plays a snarling, insatiable, self-hating femme fatale and completely steals the show."[52] Stephanie Zacharek writing for The Village Voice exclaimed, "Rise of an Empire might have been essentially more of the same, but for one distinction that makes it 300 times better than its predecessor: Mere mortals of Athens, Sparta, and every city from Mumbai to Minneapolis, behold the magnificent Eva Green, and tremble!" [53]

In the media

In 2007, Green was voted the sixth-sexiest movie star of all-time by Empire.[59]Empire also listed her character Vesper Lynd as the ninth-sexiest female character in cinema history.[60] In 2011, Los Angeles Times Magazine listed Green at number 18 for their 50 most beautiful women in film.[61] In 2012, she was listed number 57 in AfterEllen Hot 100.[62] In April 2012, Shalom Life ranked her number two on its list of "the 50 most talented, intelligent, funny, and gorgeous Jewish women in the world".[63]

Personal life

Green considers herself "nerdy".[25] She also says, "When people first meet me, they find me very cold... I keep myself at a distance, and I think that's why I'm so drawn to acting. It allows me to wear a mask."[2][13][25] She lives alone and, by her own account, leads a low-key life when she is not working. When asked in an interview what people would be surprised to find out about her, she responded:

“

I guess people would be surprised to find out that I am a bit of a homebody. I do not like clubbing or going to wild parties. After a day of shooting, I love to come home and relax by the fire with a glass of wine and a good book. Boring, huh?[64]

Green has expressed interest in returning to the theatre.[30] She says she has no plans to work in Hollywood full-time because "the problem with Hollywood is that the studios are super powerful, they have far more power than the directors... [my] ambition at this moment is just to find a good script".[67]

Green supports UNICEF.[13] In 2014, after playing a spiritualist in the TV series Penny Dreadful, she talked about her spiritual side. She said that although she is not religious, she does believe in supernatural forces.[68] In 2017, she revealed that Harvey Weinstein made an inappropriate advance during a business meeting and almost ruined her career.[69]

↑ Le Flem's family genealogy Article published in Ouest-France, 24 January 2007: "Fifteen days after her husband, Lennart Green, Jeanne Green-Le Flem [...] died Friday aged 95 [...]. The ceremony took place in the privacy of the family [...] her daughter, actress Marika Green, her granddaughters Joy and Eva Green [...] and her daughter in law Marlene Jobert. Madame Green-Le Flem, daughter of [French] composer Paul Le Flem, was buried in the family vault in the cemetery of Vieux-Marché [near the city of Lannion, Brittanny, France].